Individual computer systems are very useful tools for performing various computational tasks and solving problems. However, when a set of individual computer systems are networked together with a computer network, the utility of every computer system on the computer network is enhanced. For example, information may be shared among the different computer systems on the network, difficult computational tasks may be divided into smaller individual computational tasks that may then be distributed to all the individual computer systems on the computer network, data may be transmitted across vast distances, and the individual computer system may be used as telecommunication devices.
Computer networks were once the exclusive tools of universities, research facilities, and large businesses. However, computer networking is now available to nearly everyone with a personal computer system. Every modern cellular telephone is actually a computer system on a computer network. Low cost computer networking components and products have fueled an exponential growth of the world-wide internet that connects together millions of computer systems across the entire planet.
The deployment of local area networks (LANs) for computer systems and the coupling of a local network to the global internet were once very difficult and expensive tasks that were only available to large businesses and universities. However, simplified computer networking equipment now allow local schools and residences to connect to the internet in a relatively easy manner. But even with the current generation of simplified networking equipment, an inexperienced person attempting to deploy a local area network or connect a local area network to the global internet can make mistakes that cripple the network or render one or more devices on the network inoperative.